Wildlife Safari
(July 2008)
We finally made it to Wildlife Safari, located in Winston, Oregon. Here we'll experience a miniature African safari in our own back yard, so to speak. The park's built on over 600 acres of woodland and grassland with roads that allow you to drive through in your car to see the critters. There are animals from all over the world at the Wildlife Safari. The park focuses on animals from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The African animals that can be found at the safari are: African Elephant, African Lion, Cape Eland, Damara Zebra, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Guinea Fowl, Hippo, Nyala, Ostrich, Southern White Rhino, Waterbuck, Watusi Cattle, and Wildebeest. The animals from North and South America at the park are: Bald Eagle, Bison, Black Bear, Black Tailed Deer, Brown Bear, California Ground Squirrel, Canada Goose, Guanaco, Roosevelt Elk, Sandhill Crane, and Wild Turkey. The animals from Asia are: Aoudad, Bactrian Camel, Black Buck, Cheetah, East African Crowned Crane, Egyptian Goose, Emu, Mute Swan, Nilgai, Rhea, Sarus Crane, Siberian Tiger, Sika Deer, Tibetan Yak, and White Fallow Deer. I took pictures of a few, but you can visit their sites where others posted their photos.
The last time we visited Wildlife Safari was during September 2000. It's a lot hotter this trip and near closing time when we arrived. We'd been told before that you're more likely to see the animals out and about around feeding time.
The entrance has a nice little park and small animals in special areas.
This enclosure for Chilean flamingo's is beautiful.
We felt sorry for this cute little owl all by itself.
I know you're crazy about these critters....
Now we're ready to hit the wide open spaces where the bigger critters live.
These guys are rather intimidating when you meet one on the road.
There's a special gated bear area where a guard keeps an eye on the gate, bears and visitors. These pictures were taken in 2000 when the bears were busy. The two grizzly bears below put on a show for us.
The Cheetahs and tigers were pacing and watching for dinner.
Well, this is the extent of our visit. Safari Village wraps around this little park and allows visitors to have a close-up view of some of the animals. You can also grab a bite to eat at the White Rhino Restaurant. There are souvenirs at the Casbah Gift Shop. Also camel rides, train rides and elephant rides available at the park. We were too late for everything except for seeing the animals around the park and along the drive. It's a unique experience.